Affärsvärlden is maintaining its neutral recommendation for defense company Saab following a report that exceeded expectations and sent the stock soaring on Friday.
"Based on unrevised analyst forecasts for 2026E, Saab shares are now valued at 32.5x operating profit. The P/E ratio stands at just over 42x. From a historical perspective, this is a high valuation for Saab," writes Affärsvärlden.
The publication highlights that major global defense companies, on average, trade at around 22 times operating profit, meaning Saab is trading at a premium.
"At current price levels, however, we are not tempted to buy Saab shares. We remain on the sidelines and maintain our neutral recommendation."
SAAB AB is a world leader in the design, manufacturing and marketing of defense and security systems and equipment for military, space and civil sectors. Net sales break down by family of products and services as follows:
- electronic defense systems (33.4%): radars, sensors, submarine and terrestrial airborne surveillance systems;
- armament equipment and systems (25.6%): military equipment, missile systems, weapon systems, ammunition, armed forces identification systems, camouflage systems, etc. The group also provides security and defense solutions (combat systems, training, simulation, security and communication solutions, air and sea traffic management systems, etc.);
- aeronautical systems (24%): military aircraft, combat aircraft, avionics, etc.;
- naval systems (11.8%): submarines, combat ships, underwater mine detection systems, etc.;
- support services (4.2%): provision of services in the areas of systems development, integration and security, information security, communications, technical information, logistics, etc., and technological consulting in the fields of aviation, defense, telecommunications, etc.;
- other (1.1%).
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: Sweden (41.1%), Europe (25.8%), North America (8.9%), Asia (7.4%), Latin America (4.3%), Australia (3.8%), Africa (0.6%), and other (8.1%).
This super rating is the result of a weighted average of the rankings based on the following ratings: Valuation (Composite), EPS Revisions (4 months), and Visibility (Composite). We recommend that you carefully review the associated descriptions.
Investor
Investor
This super composite rating is the result of a weighted average of the rankings based on the following ratings: Fundamentals (Composite), Valuation (Composite), EPS Revisions (1 year), and Visibility (Composite). We recommend that you carefully review the associated descriptions.
Global
Global
This composite rating is the result of an average of the rankings based on the following ratings: Fundamentals (Composite), Valuation (Composite), Financial Estimates Revisions (Composite), Consensus (Composite) and Visibility (Composite). The company must be covered by at least 4 of these 5 ratings for the calculation to be carried out. We recommend that you carefully review the associated descriptions.
Quality
Quality
This composite rating is the result of an average of rankings based on the following ratings: Returns (Composite), Profitability (Composite) and Quality of Financial Reporting (Composite), and Financial Health (Composite). The company must be covered by at least 2 of these 3 ratings for the calculation to be performed. We recommend that you carefully read the associated descriptions.
ESG MSCI
ESG MSCI
The MSCI ESG score assesses a company’s environmental, social, and governance practices relative to its industry peers. Companies are rated from CCC (laggard) to AAA (leader). This rating helps investors incorporate sustainability risks and opportunities into their investment decisions.
